


Sank Beneath Your Wisdom Like a Stone

by NerdyHalfling



Series: Smol Naddpod Things [14]
Category: Not Another D&D Podcast (Podcast)
Genre: the major character death thing is because it's a lifespan type thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:47:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28184883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdyHalfling/pseuds/NerdyHalfling
Summary: I listened to Suzanne and became aware of some parallels, which inspired this thing.
Series: Smol Naddpod Things [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1826578
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	Sank Beneath Your Wisdom Like a Stone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Noah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noah/gifts).



Thiala begins her adventure as a good, noble follower of Pelor. When she gives her oath she means it with every fiber of her being. She will be the light, she will kindle the light in others. She will do whatever it takes to protect and spread the light, for Pelor, but also for the world. She believes in the good of people, and in the good of the God that she has devoted herself to. When she meets a dwarven barbarian and an elven wizard she joins forces with them, and with every turn, she asks  _ how can I help more people? How can I do good?  _

She chases this need to do good, to save the world, all the way to Hell. It costs so much, and she knows she’ll never be able to go back to the life she had, but that is the price she pays to save the world. It’s just that killing Asmodeus doesn’t fix everything. As soon as he’s dethroned another demon takes his place, and maybe that is when Thiala understands that killing the king of hell isn’t the great solution she thought, because there is so much suffering in the world that can’t be traced back to Asmodeus. People do bad things and most of the time they’re not influenced by demons. Her constant question of  _ how can I do good?  _ turns into  _ how do I preserve the light in a world that tries on every turn to snuff it out?  _ She doesn’t give up though, she does what she must, even when it’s hard, even when she has to betray her friends, even when she has to take Galaderon and kill people she once believed to be good. She tries when the world works against her until a band of heroes who don’t understand anything is fighting her in the sky and she finally falls, knowing that it was never enough. 

Moonshine Cybin lives and breathes Crick. She’s raised with a spirit of hospitality and kindness. Even as a child, it is clear that compassion will be a defining feature for her. Helping the smallest critters and the rowdiest Crick Bullywugs she gives her all to help others. It is more than Crick Hospitality, although she appears to believe that the things she does for others are just what anyone would do. When she is still a child it doesn’t cost her much. Effort and small sacrifices, sure, but there’s no real cost, not until the sickness comes and she knows that she has to do something. Without complaint or hesitations, she leaves the place that means the most to her and braves the world out there to help her people. 

It keeps costing her. Before she can save the Crick she’s set onto a bigger task. It’s not just about her home anymore, the whole world is at risk and she  _ will  _ save it from the godly tyrant that young Bev once idolized. Back in the Crick she learns that saving people comes at a great cost as she has to face her aunt, who didn’t even choose this path. She learns it when she has to face the truth that she’s only half Crick. She learns it the first time they almost lose Hardwon and he becomes a vampire. She learns it when they learn of the nature of the Hellfire crown and she instantly understands that it must be her burden to bear. Long after that particular problem is solved in another way she learns it as she and Bev bury Hardwon, the first of the Titans of Bahumia to pass. There are still people who need saving, things she needs to do, and she does them. For centuries she gives all she has to give to the realm, and in the process she loses so much: her mother, young Bev, Jaina… the most important thing though, she doesn’t realize before after all these loved ones are buried and she swears she still feels the dirt from each grave under her nails. Alone, in a Crick that still needs her to be the Me-Maw, she realizes that it’s costing pieces of herself, not as literally as the Hellfire Crown would have stolen pieces of her till there was nothing left, but just as certainly. And after all of it? Long after she’s stopped counting days or years or even centuries, after a life of giving and giving, when even her body finally gives out, there’s still so much helping left she hasn’t had a chance to do. 

Beverly Toegold joins the Green Teens as a child, just like his father had before him. He collects the patches, goes to the Jamboreen, learns the songs, and the day he becomes a Green Knight is the best of his life so far, though it will later be topped by his wedding day and the day his son is born. He takes his oath with a sense of duty and devotion, excited to spread the light and help people. For a long while sheltering and preserving the light means keeping things in order in Galaderon, and he loves that, bringing about the will of Pelor in their pleasant little community. Then comes the war. Suddenly sheltering the light means fighting the forces of Asmodeus. He does that too. His brothers die and he keeps fighting until the war is won. He returns to Galaderon to be captain of the Green Knights and sees his son pour himself into the Green Teens. Then it turns out the war isn’t over, there’s more to save the world from. Thiala, the hero who saved Bahumia the last time, is ready to lay everything to waste, and this isn’t Beverly Toegold IV’s fight. It is his son who sets out to defeat the great evil while the father brings the Green Teens to the Feywild and devotes himself to new causes. He is not done fighting though. This is his son’s journey, but he will do what he can. So he sells his soul to give his son the extra boost he needs. 

Beverly had never thought he would go to hell, but he’d thought he’d be able to withstand it if he did. He didn’t imagine he would fade, growing to despise the world he gave everything to save. 

_ And Jesus was a sailor _

_ when he walked upon the water  _

_ and he spent a long time watching  _

_ from his lonely wooden tower  _

_ and when he knew for certain  _

_ only drowning men could see him _

_ he said “all men will be sailors then, _

_ until the sea shall free them”  _

_ but he himself was broken  _

_ long before the sky would open _

_ forsaken almost human _

_ he sank beneath your wisdom  _

_ like a stone _


End file.
